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Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor. He was born in New Zealand, spending 10 years of his childhood in Australia and residing there permanently by age 21. His work on screen has earned him various accolades, including an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a British Academy Film Award.
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IMDb provides an extensive overview of Russell Crowe's life and career, from his birth in New Zealand to his Oscar-winning role in Gladiator. Browse his photos, videos, credits, trivia, and more on the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content.
- January 1, 1
- 1.82 m
- Wellington, New Zealand
Apr 27, 2024 · Russell Crowe, New Zealand-born Australian actor known for his commitment, intensity, and ruggedly handsome good looks. He received multiple Academy Award nominations for best actor and won for Gladiator (2000). Read more about Crowe’s life and career.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Who is Russell Crowe?Russell Crowe is a New Zealand-born Australian actor known for his commitment, intensity, and ruggedly handsome good looks. He won an Academy Award...
- Where is Russell Crowe from?Russell Crowe was born in Wellington, New Zealand, on April 7, 1964.
- What was Russell Crowe's first hit Hollywood film?Russell Crowe’s first hit Hollywood film was L.A. Confidential (1997), in which he played Bud White.
- What is the name of Russell Crowe's character in Gladiator?Russell Crowe played the role of Maximus, a Roman general-turned-gladiator, in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator (2000). He won the Academy Award for best a...
- What was Russell Crowe's rock band?Russell Crowe co-founded the rock band Roman Antix, serving as a songwriter, guitarist, and lead singer; the group later re-formed as 30 Odd Foot o...
- Plot
- Cast
- Production
- Historical Authenticity
- Influences
- Music
- Reception
- Impact
- Home Media
- Future
In AD 180, Hispano-Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius intends to return to his home after he leads the Roman army to victory against the Germanic tribes near Vindobona on the Limes Germanicus. Emperor Marcus Aurelius tells Maximus that his own son, Commodus, is unfit to rule and that he wishes Maximus to succeed him, as regent, to help save Rom...
Russell Crowe as Maximus Decimus Meridius: A Hispano-Roman legatus forced into becoming a slave who seeks revenge against Commodus. He has earned the favor of Marcus Aurelius, and the love and admi...Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus: The amoral, power-hungry, embittered son of Marcus Aurelius. He murders his father when he learns that Maximus will hold the emperor's powers in trust until a new repub...Connie Nielsen as Lucilla: Maximus's former lover and the older child of Marcus Aurelius. Lucilla has been recently widowed. She resists her brother's incestuous advances, while protecting her son,...Development and pre-production
Gladiator was based on an original pitch by David Franzoni, who wrote the first draft. Franzoni was given a three-picture deal with DreamWorks as writer and co-producer on the strength of his previous work, Steven Spielberg's Amistad, which helped establish the reputation of DreamWorks. Not a classical scholar, Franzoni was inspired by Daniel P. Mannix's 1958 novel Those About to Die, and he chose to base his story on Commodus after reading the ancient Roman Historia Augusta. In Franzoni's fi...
Filming
The film was shot in three main locations between January and May 1999. The opening battle scenes in the forests of Germania were shot in three weeks in the Bourne Woods, near Farnham, Surrey, in England. When Scott learned that the Forestry Commission planned to remove a section of the forest, he persuaded them to allow the battle scene to be shot there and burn it down. Scott and cinematographer John Mathieson used multiple cameras filming at various frame rates and a 45-degree shutter, cre...
Post-production
British post-production company The Mill was responsible for much of the computer-generated imagery effects that were added after filming. The company was responsible for such tricks as compositing real tigers filmed on bluescreen into the fight sequences, and adding smoke trails and extending the flight paths of the opening scene's salvo of flaming arrows to get around regulations on how far they could be shot during filming. They also used 2,000 live actors to create a computer-generated cr...
The film is loosely based on real events that occurred within the Roman Empire in the latter half of the 2nd century AD. As Ridley Scott wanted to portray Roman culture more accurately than in any previous film, he hired several historians as advisors. Nevertheless, some deviations from historical fact were made to increase interest, maintain narra...
The film's plot was influenced by two 1960s Hollywood films of the sword-and-sandal genre, The Fall of the Roman Empire and Spartacus, and shares several plot points with The Fall of the Roman Empire, which tells the story of Livius, who, like Maximus in Gladiator, is Marcus Aurelius's intended successor. Livius is in love with Lucilla and seeks to...
The Oscar-nominated score was composed by Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard, and conducted by Gavin Greenaway. Zimmer was originally planning to use Israeli vocalist Ofra Haza for the score, after his work with her in The Prince of Egypt. However, Haza died in late February 2000, before she was able to record, and so Gerrard was chosen instead. Lisa Ger...
Box office
Gladiatorgrossed $187.7 million in the United States and Canada and $269.9 million in other territories for a total of $457.6 million, against a production budget of $103 million. In North America, the film earned $34.8 million in its opening weekend at 2,938 theaters, topping the box office. It remained number one in its second weekend grossing $24.6 million, and dropped to third place in its third weekend with $19.7 million behind newcomers Dinosaur, Mission: Impossible 2 and Shanghai Noon.
Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 77% based on 201 reviews, with an average rating of 7.30/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Ridley Scott and an excellent cast successfully convey the intensity of Roman gladiatorial combat as well as the political intrigue brewing beneath." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score of 67 out of 100, based on 46 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by...
Accolades
Gladiator was nominated in 36 individual ceremonies, including the 73rd Academy Awards, the BAFTA Awards, and the Golden Globe Awards. Of 119 award nominations, the film won 48 prizes. The film won five Academy Awards and was nominated for an additional seven, including Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor for Joaquin Phoenix and Best Director for Ridley Scott. It was the first movie to win Best Picture without winning either a directing or screenwriting award since All the King's...
The film's mainstream success is responsible for an increased interest in Roman and classical history in the United States. According to The New York Times, this has been dubbed the "Gladiator Effect". The Cicero biography Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician and Gregory Hays's translation of Marcus Aurelius's Meditations receiv...
The film was first released on DVD on November 21, 2000, and has since been released in several different extended and special edition versions. Special features for the Blu-ray Disc and DVDs include deleted scenes, trailers, documentaries, commentaries, storyboards, image galleries, Easter eggs, and cast auditions. The film was released on Blu-ray...
In June 2001, developments for a Gladiator follow-up began in the form of potential for either a prequel or a sequel, with David Franzoni in early-negotiations to once again serve as screenwriter. The following year, a sequel was announced to be moving forward with John Logan serving as screenwriter. The plot, set fifteen years later, included the ...
Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor with New Zealand citizenship who lives in Australia. He is most well known for the movie Gladiator. This movie gave him his fame in America. He won the academy award (Oscar) for Best actor in 2001, for acting in Gladiator.
Jan 6, 2020 · Learn about the life and career of Russell Crowe, the Oscar-winning actor who starred in Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, Les Misérables and more. Find out his birth date, height, net worth, family and other facts.
